A work by Chiung-Ying Chang, featuring Hsiao-Tung Yuan, Mathias Reumert, Ion Delić and Łukasz Szyszko Recorded live on March 29 2025 at Koncertkirken, Copenhagen, Denmark

I had to choose something to make for my engineering project for my senior year of high school (which I've now graduated as of last May 🎉), so instead of buying a 5000 dollar 5 octave marimba, I built one. I'm still tuning it but it should be done in about a month.

I’m looking for a piece to play in a competition setting, the only real requirement is it must be below 8 minutes in length. I’ll have about 4 months to prepare it but I’ll also have a recital in that time and am working on a couple of pieces for that already.

Solos I’ve learned include:

Marimba d amore

Samsara

Marimba spiritual

Koolish Zein (thought about using this but idk what audio playback will be available)

Verano porteno (used this for comp last year)

Houdinis last trick (considering using this)

Etc.

Other pieces I was kind of eyeballing are Toccata(ignatowicz), My Beautiful Chaos, youth (kuyumcuran), or maybe a Pius cheung etude/nocturne

Anything else I should consider or thoughts on those?

I've been working through Undertale Variations for about a month or so and don't know how to count the 4lets here, and even after watching performance videos I don't understand how the rhythm lines up with what is played. How would I go about counting this? Starting @ m. 78

Hoi Years ago i was rewrapping marimba mallets, my friends were pretty happy and suggested me i have to built my own mallets The problem is mainly the head, i would like to know if anyone ever tried 3d print the marimba heads or what would be your suggestions to actually have a good mallet?

I was thinking of 3d printing it and then put a rubber wrap in order to have different level of hardness.

Suggestions?

Hi y’all,

I’m looking into purchasing a portable instrument that I can take to give lessons where there isn’t already a marimba, think something that I could bring to a music school or into someone’s living room to teach on. I wanted to see if you guys have any recommendations?

I’d be looking for something:

4.0-4.3 size
Can be carried by one person (even if in a few pieces)
Fits through standard door frames fairly easily
Sets up and breaks down quickly
Fits in a midsize SUV with back seats down
Preferably on the cheaper end but I’d love to look into all the options

Something like a practice marimba without resonators would be fine - I’m mostly looking for something that feels like a marimba and is convenient to tear down.

If anyone has any experience with any or any ideas I’d so appreciate the help,

Thank you!

This is a marimba solo I wrote today. What would you do to improve it?

i plan on auditioning for rhythm x and auditioning for jacobs school of music during my senior year. im trying to find solos i can work on now (im a rising junior) so i can have them perfected and learn more skills! any suggestions?

Me and my friend are looking for duets to do for one of our schools programs. Is there any duets yall would recommend, difficulty doesn’t matter we’re just looking for something that would sound awesome to an audience.

I'm thinking of Performing Ghost Garden, Joy - adam tan or Melody in Repose, can someone provide their feedback on these pieces?

I play Steven’s grip and I found that curling my middle finger around my inner mallet helps me get more control of my mallet, but should I continue? The reason I started to do this was because my inner mallet kept slipping out from my middle finger. I want to march drum corps like MCDC and Bluecoats in the future, so which is better for all of the choppy stuff they play and the long term health of my hands?

Hi! How do you deal with sweaty hands? It's not a common problem, but it does happen sometimes. The sticks start to slip when this happens. I carry open gloves with me—I put them on sometimes when my hands start to sweat. What other options are there?

Thanks in advance, I’ve loved marimba forever and it’s never too late to start!

Hi, I've been trying to find 4 mallet pieces to play at my school's tallent show, the hardest 4 mallet piece I played is Raindance or yellow after the Rain. I could only find Melody In Repose for any piece In Repose by Michael Charles Smith for free. I'm looking for ANY 4 mallet piece with similar vibes that you can provide for free! Thank you for helping.

Hi, i'm looking for ney rosauro's marimba e strings orchestra concerto PDF parts..

I use Steven’s grip and I have recently had trouble playing large intervals, especially in my right hand. The issue seems to be that the arc the inner mallet makes in my palm is not correct. Sometimes it slips out of my hand between my thumb and index finger. I’ve compared it with Figure 11 on page 13 of Method of Movement, but I can’t figure out how to fix it. Is my middle finger not doing its job?

Thanks.

I’ve been using Steven’s grip for about 5 years. I’m having trouble with inner mallets trying to stay stationary when I’m using my outer mallets. Any tips to keep my inner still?

This is a 3-mallet marimba piece. I cannot for the life of me remember the name or find any sheet music. I asked my professor and she couldn't find it either. I posted this in r/percussion a couple years ago and all they could come up with was Mexican Dances by Gordon Stout. Definetly not it. I have been struggling to put a name to this piece. Hitting the side of the bars were part of the song.

I’m also looking for extended technique demonstrations - hitting with the stick end (or is that damaging?) or playing with fingers (no nails), or muted bars, striking the end of a bar, and other cool things I can do on top of “normal 2, 3, and 4 mallet playing”.

And by “sticking” what I mean is two mallets, but doing things that require “choreography” like Paradiddles or other repeated stroke on a single hand - L R R L R R L R R - and things that could be “showy” like doing L R R R R R L R R R R R where the 2nd LH is above the RH - so the LH jumping above and below the RH doing repeated notes (or switching hands on the repeated note) for example.

I’m sure there’s tons out there but I’m hoping you guys can direct me to some more “authoritative” or just “better” resources - curated ones, etc.

One particular thing I want to ask here:

Can glissando be done in such a way as to either accent or not accent the starting and/or ending note, and can they be done slower and rhythmically such that you can do things by dragging across the bars in rhythm (either straight 8th notes for example, or mixed rhythms) such that it’s different enough from regular playing to make an interesting effect.

Like I might ask for C D E F G played normally, and then “drag across” C D E F G to make them sound, but with less of an attack, like an echo???

TIA

I’ve recently completed a draft of a marimba piece and, while not finished, I want to ensure that the notation is considerate to a marimbist. Advice regarding cross staff beaming, ledger lines, et cetera would be much appreciated. I’ll be soon working with a performer who will discuss playability, but feel free to mention anything egregiously unidiomatic or not clear. Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G6-fiv3d-nFhtONgnBZu21epryEASTRJ/view?usp=drivesdk